Don’t rely solely on hen calls to locate your gobbler. Remember, you’re coming into the game after most other hunters, and birds might be call-shy by the time you get to them. Because you’re running and gunning, you need a bird to gobble to convince you to set up. If a tom comes in silent to your calls, you’ll probably be long gone by the time he shows up.

Shock calls are good bets for getting even the most call-shy gobbler to sound off. My favorites are the crow and pileated woodpecker calls. Notice I didn’t list the owl hoot. There’s no point in hooting at 10 a.m. because most owls gave their last hoots of the morning before sunrise. You need to work calls that produce sounds turkeys expect to hear later in the day.

In areas that are heavily hunted, I opt for the woodpecker call. Not too many turkey hunters work this call. Conversely, just about every turkey hunter I know has a crow call in his vest. Pressured gobblers seem to get wise to the crow call after hearing it every day for several days during the season. But the woodpecker call is rare enough and sharp enough to produce results on most days.

I can recall one day when a bird I was working would answer only my woodpecker call and nothing else. I was running and gunning my way along the top of a ridge about 10:30 a.m. when this tom replied to my woodpecker call. Judging by the sound of the gobble, I figured I was going to have to drop down into the valley on the south side of the slope I was on, climb the opposing ridge and then work the bird on top of that mountain.

As I made my journey toward the turkey, I made a few hen yelps with my mouth diaphragm to make sure I was still on the right track. The turkey never responded to those yelps. So, I hit the woodpecker call. He answered that call every time with thunderous gobbles.

Shock calls are good bets for getting even the most call-shy gobbler to sound off. My favorites are the crow and pileated woodpecker calls.

Closer and closer I trekked toward the source of the gobbling, checking the bird’s location periodically with my woodpecker call. Eventually, I figured I had moved close enough, so I planted my decoy on the spine of the ridge and I backed about 20 yards away. I sat down at the base of a huge oak tree and then started hen yelping.

Not one time did the gobbler respond vocally to my hen yelps. But he and a buddy followed the calls right to my decoy. I shot the bird with the longer beard as the two toms stood within inches of my decoy.

Hunkering
Hunkering down for a gobbler basically is the exact opposite of running and gunning. When you hunker down, you find a spot where you believe a gobbler will show up and you don’t move. Either the bird shows, or you run out of hunting time.

If you’re going to hunker down, your scouting had better be on target and up to the minute or you’re going to be lonely out there.

Which brings up the next issue for the hunker-down hunter -- comfort. Since you could be seated in one place for a couple of hours, it’s best to be comfortable. The more comfortable you are, the longer you can sit.